Initial investment includes new cardiovascular facility, outpatient center, and additional physicians for the region

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS – The Alice L. Walton Foundation,  Mercy, and Heartland Whole Health Institute announced a 30-year, $700 million affiliation agreement in a joint effort to expand access to health care, reduce costs, and improve health outcomes in the Heartland. Cleveland Clinic will collaborate, providing world-class cardiovascular expertise to the effort. 

The affiliation will bring highly sought after transformative, value-based care to the Heartland, while reducing health care costs. It will include cutting-edge specialties and virtual care, developed with the whole person in mind. To support this vision, Mercy is committing $350 million, which will include initially building a new cardiac care center of excellence on Mercy’s campus in Rogers, Arkansas, and resources for additional physician recruitment. 

Additionally, Alice L. Walton Foundation will provide $350 million in part to develop an outpatient center of excellence for specialty care, including new cardiac services and virtual care in Bentonville, and to attract, train, and retain top physicians for the region. This effort represents one of the largest-ever specialty care investments in the Heartland. 

Following these initial investments, the organizations will explore additional opportunities to expand care in the region. 

“We believe that everyone deserves quality whole health care closer to home,” says philanthropist Alice Walton, founder of Heartland Whole Health Institute and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. “This powerful collaboration with Mercy and Cleveland Clinic will change the health care landscape in the Heartland, bringing together organizations that are dedicated to increasing quality, reducing costs, and making accessible, value-based care a reality.”

Cleveland Clinic, a national leader in cardiology and heart and vascular surgery, will provide on-site expertise to drive world-class clinical excellence in cardiovascular care by establishing processes, best practices, and fostering a culture of innovation. Mercy and Cleveland Clinic will co-brand the world-class cardiovascular center to be built on Mercy’s campus.

“We are pleased to be working together with the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Mercy, and Heartland Whole Health Institute to enhance access to quality cardiovascular care for the communities of Northwest Arkansas,” said Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., holder of the Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair. “This collaboration helps Cleveland Clinic fulfill our commitment to provide safe, compassionate care for more patients.”

Mercy, consistently ranked as one of the nation’s largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) for almost two decades, has invested in care models and infrastructure to ensure high-quality and low-cost care across the regions it serves. Mercy’s leadership in value-based care has saved CMS (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) more than $250 million over the last five years. 

“We are at the beginning of a decades-long relationship to transform health care,” says Steve Mackin, Mercy’s President and CEO. “Health care has become increasingly complex, but we are committed to working closely with Alice and her teams to innovate a new model of care − one that reduces the total cost of health care while increasing the quality of care and providing access for all. Mercy opened the first virtual care center in the nation in 2015, long before a worldwide pandemic demanded virtual care for consumers. We are excited about bringing significantly enhanced, broad specialty care to Northwest Arkansas, while continuing to create meaningful and lasting change in the region.”

The 30-year agreement will include significant investments making Northwest Arkansas a destination for care and a national example of how to provide health care in new and innovative ways. 

The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Cleveland Clinic previously announced an initiative to enhance access to specialty care services in Northwest Arkansas, following a study that revealed many patients leave the region for cardiology services, among other specialties. 

One of the fastest growing regions in the U.S., Northwest Arkansas is situated to support a world-class health care destination at the center of the nation’s Heartland. The cardiac centers will form the foundation of a health hub that will: 

• Provide residents in the 20-state Heartland region access to a comprehensive spectrum of cardiac services. 
• Reduce total cost of care while increasing quality through value-based payment initiatives and delivery services. 
• Deploy a model of preventative, whole health care that leverages technology and telehealth to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs for the region.
• Attract a large group of new physicians, with plans for Mercy to bring hundreds to the region in the coming years. 
• Position Northwest Arkansas as the premier health care destination and encourage new patients from the middle of the country to seek care in the region.
• Contribute to the Heartland’s economic strength, treat patients closer to home, and significantly reduce the $950 million currently lost annually due to patients seeking specialty care outside of Northwest Arkansas.

Mercy and Cleveland Clinic will collaborate with Heartland Whole Health Institute to ensure whole health principles form the foundation of the new cardiac centers, considering patients’ physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being and putting them at the center of a preventative and value-based care model. As part of the agreement, Mercy will serve as the primary educational partner for Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.

"We believe that transparent, wellness-oriented care is nonnegotiable,” says Walter Harris, President and CEO, Heartland Whole Health Institute. “Providers and patients alike benefit when the traditional approach to care and physician reimbursement is abandoned for a model that prioritizes keeping patients healthy and costs down. This is just the beginning of what we will accomplish together.”